Tag-securing means



Jan. 13, 1931. s. KLEIN ETFAL 1,789,236

TAG SECURING MEANS Filed Dec., 19, 1928 INVENT R BY $5 1;

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAMUEL KLEIN, OF NEW YORK, AND DAVID R. KASANOF, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK; SAID KASANOE ASSIGNOR TO SAID KLEIN TAG-SECURING- MEANS Application filed December 19, 1928. Serial No. 326,922.

Our present invention relates generally to tag securing means, and particularly to a seal adapted to be irremovably associated with the end or ends of a tie member for securing a tag in position.

The type of tie member to which our present. invention has particular reference comprises a string or the like to which a garment tag may be attached. It is a general object of our invention to provide a seal which will permit threading of the tie member through a garment and subsequent sealing of one or both ends of said tie member to prevent surreptitious removal of the tie member from the garment. For example, the opposite ends of a tie member to which a tag is attached may be united by means of the present seal so as to form a complete loop engaging with the garment, as through a buttonhole or the like,

and irreihovable from the garment except by mutilation of the ti'emember, the tag, the garment or the seal. Or, if the tag at one end of the tie member and the seal at the other are sufiiciently large, the same desired result may be achieved without the formation of a complete loop, and simply by passing thetie member through a relatively small openlng in the garment.

A more particular object of our invention lies in providing a seal which is extremely simple in construction, small in size, yet highly eflicient in operation. It is one feature of our invention to provide a seal formed essentially of two pivotable jaws, the jaws being adapted to sandwich the he member. end between them and being provided with means for automatically locking them together as and after the tie member end has been so sandwiched. More particularly, it is a fea- 40 ture of our invention to provide the jaws in a manner which constitutes them complementary portions of a chamber, so that when the jaws are closed, the end of the tie member will be sandwiched and clamped therebetween and in a totally inaccessible position within the chamber. 7 j A further feature of our invention lies in providing the automatic means for locking the jaws together in an extremely simple manner which requires no unnecessary parts or mechanism. More particularly, we provide the locking means in the form of interengaging-hooks, the latter being integrally formed on the jaws respectively.

An important feature of ourinvention lies in providing the entire device of a single integral blank of bendable material, such as sheet metal, the hinging or pivoting of the jaws being effected by bending the metal, and the chamber construction being accomplished by suitable initial shaping of the integral blank.

In a preferred form, the integral blank of material is so shaped as to provide a pair of pivotal jaws substantially similar in construction and each of which comprises a substantially flat body portion and a marginal flange, the flange of one jaw being telescopable with respect to the flange of the other jaw when the jaws are closed. In this construction, the jaws may be said to form; complementary telescopable portions of a cham- For the attainment of the foregoing objects and such other objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, we have constructed a device embodying the features of our invention and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which i Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a seal constructed in accordance with the present invention and operatively associated with the two ends of a tie member;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional'view taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a development of the integral seal; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the seal in normal open position, two ends of a tie mem bcrbeing illustrated in dot and dash lines to show the manner in which these ends are associated with the device.

For the sake of clearly explaining the nature of the present construction, We have shown a development in Fig. 3 of the integral device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. It will be seen that the device is almost symmetrical about a medial line 10; On one side of the line 10 we provide a jaw having a body portion 11 which is substantially rectangular and is defined by the lines 10, 16, 17 and 18.

On the other side of the line 10 we provide a complementary jaw having a body portion 12 substantially equal in size and shape to the body portion 11. The body portion 12 is de fined by the lines 10, 20, 23 and 24.

On the bodyportion 11 we provide a continuous upstanding marginal flange consisting of the top portion 13 and the side portions 14 and 15. The latter are substantially triangular, the apeces of the triangles being arranged adjacent to the medial line 10, and the bases of the triangles forming integral continuations of the top portion 13.

The complementary jaw is also provided with a continuous upstanding marginal flange, the latter comprlsing the top portion 19 and the triangular side portions 21 and 22. The bases of the portions 21 and 22 form integral continuations of the sides of the portion 19.

L This flanged construction is preferably accomplished by a stamping operation whereby the metal of a flat blank is drawn in a wellknown-manner to provide what in effect are two recessed members hinging about the line 10 to permit the members to assume a telescoping position.

In the construction illustrated, the flange upon the body portion 12 is designed to telescope within the flange upon the body portion 11 when the jaws are closed by pivoting them around the line of bending 10.

As a result of this construction, a device such as that illustrated in Fig. 4 is produced. It will be noted that the body portion 11, together-withthe flange made up of the portions 13, 14 and 15, forms a jaw which is complementary in construction with. respect to the 'aw formed by the body portion 12 and the ange made up of the portions 19, 21 and .22. The complementary nature of these aws resides in the ability of the jaws, when closed, to form a chamber.. In the illustrated embodiment, this chamber is formed by mutual telescoping of the marginal flanges. In other words, when the jaws are closed into the position of Fig. 1, the flange portion 19 will underlie the flange portion 13, the flange portion 21 .will underlie the flange portion 15, and the flange portion 22 will underlie the flange portion 14.

Extending outwardly from the flange portion 13 is the lip- 25 which is doubled back upon the inner face of the flange portion 13,

and similarly extending from the flange portion 19 of the member 12 is the lip 01' extension 26 which is doubled back upon the outer faces of the flange portion 19, the parts he in so dimensioned that when the aw 12 is teFescoped within the jaw 11, the lip 25 will engage beneath the lip 26, and lock the two jaws against separation.

In Fig. 4 we have shown the relationship of parts when the device is ready to be employed. One method of utilizing the deviceresides in taking the two ends 35 and 36 of a tie member and laying them in parallel relationship along the line of bending 10, as shown. The extremities of the ends 35 and 36 may if desired extend beyond the seal as shown in Fig. 4. Thereupon, the portions 11 and 12 are forced toward one another by pivoting the jaws around the line of hinging. This will serve to sandwich the ends 35 and 36 between the jaws and to clamp said ends between the portions 11 and 12. By suitably pressing the jaws together, achamber is provided as shown.in Fig. 1, and it will be readily understood that the tie member ends 35 and 36 will be clamped within this chamber. During the closure, the flap 26 will frictionally force its way past the flap 25 and will ultimately interengage with this flap 25 as shown most clearly in Fig. 2. Such interengagement, being wholly within the chamber, isobviously inaccessible, and as a result, the jaws are automatically locked to gether in an inseparable manner.

Such locklng thus associates the tie member ends 35 and 36 in an irremovable manner ranged in opposite directions, but the man-- ner of association is otherwise the same.

Where desired, only one tie member end may be associated with the seal and such end will similarly be irremovably associated with the seal, such association being desirable for a number of uses.

Where the security of association is desirably to be doubled, the ends such as those shown in Fig. 4 may be wound around twice or three times before the jaws are closed, but in any employment of the device the features of simplicity and firmness of grip will be present as heretofore explained.

Although we have illustrated and described a construction wherein a die-stamping operation forms the jaws of the charac ter shown, nevertheless'it will be obviousthat other methods of constructing the jaws may be employed where desired. For example, it

-may be satisfactory in certain .cases to start with a flat blank actually of the shape shown in Fig. 3. In such an event, the various flange portions will not form continuations of one another unless they are soldered, welded or otherwise united after the marginal flange has been-formed. The particular method of construction, and the particular type of blank from which the device is constructed, is wholly immaterial, however, from the standpoint of ultimate function of the device and the highly eflicient nature thereof.

It will be obvious that changes in the details herein described and illustrated for the purpose of explaining the nature of our invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. It is therefore lntended that these details'be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention and illustrated its use, what we, claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A seal for a tie member comprising a pair of tapering jaws hinged together at their tapered ends and'forming complementary telescopable portions of a chamber when brought together with the portions of the jaw adjacent the hinge in close association, the jaws being adapted to receive the tie member between them when open and to clamp said member along the lines of the hinge and between the adjacent portions of the jaws, and

cember, 1928.

SAMUEL KLEIN. DAVID R. KASANOF.

means within said chamber for automatically locking the jaws together in an inseparable manner.

2. A seal for a string or the like comprising a pair of hinged jaws, each tapering toward the hinge and having portions adjacent the hinge which, when brought together, will grasp the string therebetween, and means on said jaws and spaced from said hinge and positioned in the wider portions of the jaws for automatically locking said jaws together in an inseparable manner and for holding theportions adjacent the hinge in a grasping relation to the string therebetween, said means being inaccessible against manipulation when the jaws are brought into their predetermined locked position.

3. A seal fora tie member comprising a pair of jaws hinged together, each jaw comprising a body portion and triangular flanges depending from opposed sides thereof, each of the flanges of each jaw tapering from the free end of the body-portion thereof to the hinged end thereof whereby to give each jaw a generally wedge-shaped conformation, the two jaws being movable relatively about the hinge to bring them into nested relation to form a chamber closed at thetop by the body portion of one of the jaws and at the bottom by the body portion of the other jaw with'the flanges of one jaw each in laterally overlapping relation to the corresponding flange of the other jaw to form side closures element cooperatingwith the first mentioned interlocking element for locking said jaws together when they are brought into nested 

